Local News

While firefighting operations were mostly complete late Thursday morning at the Jefferson Senior Center in Delano seniors who use the facility for a meal or to socialize like Pedro Ceja, left, were sad to see the building destroyed by the fire.

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By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian

"I'm leaving with sadness," Leo Medina said after arriving for his usual noontime meal at the Jefferson Senior Center in Delano and finding out the building was destroyed by a fire early Thursday morning. Like many others that go to the senior center Medina didn't go just for the meal but also for the opportunity to socialize with other seniors.

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By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian

"I'm leaving with sadness," Leo Medina said after arriving for his usual noontime meal at the Jefferson Senior Center in Delano and seeing the building was destroyed by a fire early Thursday morning. Like many others that go to the senior center, Medina didn't go just for the meal but also for the opportunity to socialize with other seniors.

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By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian

A fire destroyed the Jefferson Senior Center in Delano early Thursday morning.

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By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian

Pedro Ceja arrived at the Jefferson Senior Center in Delano where he usually has his noontime meal only to find out a fire had destroyed the building Thursday morning.

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By THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN

City officials are working to keep meal deliveries coming to seniors after a fire destroyed the Delano Senior Citizens Center in the 400 block of Jefferson Street early Thursday morning.

Lito Morillo, director of Kern County's Aging and Adult Services Department, said the county contracted with the city to provide meals to seniors at the center. Those who visited were able to participate in a variety of activities.

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"They go there to socialize," Morillo said. "One of the benefits to having a senior center is to meet friends, play cards, play pool, play bingo."

And the meals for the seniors were cooked there too. Morillo said he's heard the site is a total loss, and it contained commercial kitchen equipment including walk-in refrigerators.

There's another senior center in Delano at 925 Ellington St., and Morillo said they're going to prepare the meals at another location and deliver them to the Ellington Street center and to homebound seniors in the city. He estimated they served about 90 seniors daily at the Jefferson center and delivered another 70 meals to those who are homebound.

"I'm leaving with sadness," Leo Medina said after arriving for his usual noontime meal and finding the building destroyed.

Medina said he went to the center for meals and to socialize.

Kern County firefighters said crews arrived about 4:15 a.m. and found flames coming from about 50 percent of the roof area of the 9,000-square-foot building. Crews tried to check rooms for fire and punctured holes in the ceiling, but the incident commander ordered all firefighters out because the roof was compromised.

About 80 percent of the building's roof collapsed inside itself. No injuries were reported and the cause has not yet been determined.

Delano City Manager Maribel Reyna said the city's first priority is to the employees who worked at the center and the seniors who went there. A local McDonald's provided free meals to the seniors on Thursday, and she said the city is working to make sure Thursday is the only day where meal service was disrupted.

A damage assessment is under way, but Reyna said she estimated that the center and its comments were worth $1.5 million or more. She said they're trying to get the word out to seniors to meet at the Ellington center because the meals will be delivered there.

The body of a large paddle-tailed rodent was found early Tuesday in the traffic lanes of southbound Mohawk Street north of Truxtun Avenue, suggesting Bakersfield's fabled bike path beaver -- scourge of local saplings -- may have died.

The lush grasses and sweeps of wildflowers cloak much of the damage to the small canyon in a blanket of ephemeral green. But Ellen Cypher and Erin Tennant can see it as they walk along a sandy route that has been churned into the bottom of the wash by motorcyclists and quad riders.

Even Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez's self-serving, disingenuous and downright contemptuous ranting against a proposed ban of Piccolo Pete and ground flower-type fireworks wasn't nearly as stunning to me as Supervisor David Couch's silence and eventual vote against the ban.